


Electricity Running to My Soul

by oneoneandone



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:14:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27549694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneoneandone/pseuds/oneoneandone
Summary: Short (less than 1000 words) stories of Kelley and Emily
Relationships: Kelley O'Hara/Emily Sonnett
Kudos: 22





	1. So Unholy With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _You say, "Baby you know where this is going"  
>  In a second my world's overthrown  
> 'Cause I know that you wanna be so  
> Unholy_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Prompt**   
>  _Prompt: body issue Ship: so'hara_

“So I got a call today,” Emily said nonchalantly as she laced up her cleats.

The early evening Georgia sun was still warm enough that she could feel the sweat gathering at the small of her back, the familiar sensation of a bead breaking free and rolling, only to get caught up in the tight elastic of her shorts against her waist.

Kelley, always faster, was already on her feet, dribbling a ball back and forth in a circle around their bags of gear, her ponytail swinging as she juked left and right, tips of her cleats skimming through the grass.

“I said,” Emily stood up and slipped a foot between the brunette’s, deftly touching the ball away, “I got a call today.”

She recovered the ball first, taking advantage of Kelley’s surprise, and stood an arm’s length away, foot heavy on the ball, protecting it from being stolen away in turn.

Kelley shook her head, looking up at her. “I heard you the first time, Son,” she smiled, “I just figured you’d get to the point eventually.”

And Emily rolled her eyes, shaking her head at the woman she’d just about decided she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. “Tell you what, old lady,” she dribbled backwards at half-pace, feeling the grass change under her feet. From the slightly longer blades along the pitch to the perfectly trimmed length of the field.

Fresh grass–she’d never get used to the way it made her feel. Safe, powerful, home. Second only to the way Kelley could.

“Tell you what,” she repeated the taunt, knowing the older woman could rarely, if ever, turn down a challenge. “You get this ball away from me, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

And she took off, running down the field, not having to look back to know that Kelley was already in hot pursuit.

It was a familiar battle, one running, one chasing. One they’d replayed a thousand times again, on the field and off.

Emily knew she couldn’t hold Kelly off forever. The other woman had always been faster, and would probably still be fast long after they’d both retired from the sport they loved. But she made a fight of it, throwing her body into the game, edging Kelley off with a nudge of her hips, a nutmeg through her legs.

It was a sliding tackle that took her down, the ball skittering ahead of them both as they collapsed on top of each other, Kelley laughing as Emily fought off the same to express her righteous indignation.

“Foul!” she shouted as Kelley’s arms wrapped around her waist, “straight red.” Emily gave her the evil eye even as she let herself be rolled, let herself be pressed into the warm earth by Kelley’s body on top of hers. “That was a red and you know it, O'Hara.”

But she caught sight of the brunette’s pleased expression and her annoyed expression dissolved into an exasperated smile.

“So,” Kelley said softly, eyes wide and amused, “tell me. What’s this mysterious phone call about?”

Emily only hesitated a moment before answering, figuring if she waited too long the woman atop her would start using her fingers to get it out of her and she wanted to keep the last bits of dignity that she had left.

She told her, careful to keep her tone and expression neutral, even though the excitement was bubbling up into her chest. “ESPN called. They asked if I would be interested in doing this year’s body issue.”

Kelley sat back, just a little, looking down at the blonde beneath her appraisingly, a smile all the evidence Emily needed to know she liked what she saw. As if she hadn’t already been made aware of that fact before. Many times over. “Well, are you going to do it?” she asked, teasing over the hem of the younger woman’s old UVA t-shirt.

“I told them I’d have to think about it,” Emily grinned up at her. “After all, it’s not just my body, right?”

She could see the older woman formulating a response, and scratched her fingers over the exposed skin of Kelley’s firm thighs. “I mean, I should at the very least see if Emma has a problem with it. It’d be like she’s posing too.” And Emily’s grin is particularly wicked as Kelley laughs.

“That’s fair,” Kelley nodded agreeably. So agreeably that Emily couldn’t resist.

“Plus, I should probably run it by my girlfriend,” she added.

The brunette only hesitated a beat. “You think Horan will let you do it?” She poked the younger woman hard, just under her rib-cage, eliciting a soft groan.

“Okay, okay,” Emily laughed as she caught Kelley’s hands in her own. “But I mean it, if you and Emma don’t have a problem, I think I’ll say yes.”

And she loved the way Kelley didn’t even bother to look around before leaning down, before kissing her softly. Right there at the 18-yard line on a field in the middle of an Atlanta park.

“You don’t need my permission,” Kelley whispered softly, “but if you want me to tell you what I think, I think you should do it. Lord knows, I love to look at you.”

She lingered there at her lips for a moment before she sat back again, shifting easily to her feet and reached down for Emily’s hands to pull her up as well.

“And if you want to practice your poses for me after we finish here,” Kelley waggled her eyebrows, “I’d be more than happy to offer you my opinion. But first–” she took off, chasing after the ball that had rolled away to sit just a few yards ahead, “you’ll have to catch me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Unholy," Hollie Col


	2. Give Me the Blues and Then Purple Pink Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Time, wondrous time  
>  Gave me the blues and then purple pink skies  
> And it's cool, baby, with me  
> And isn't it just so pretty to think  
> All along there was some  
> Invisible string  
> Tying you to me?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Prompt:**   
>  _bath_

It was dark outside, the lightscape of downtown Atlanta flickering on just beyond the tall panes of glass looking out onto the city below.

There were a million reasons Kelley had bought this particular condo. Location, space, the amenities scattered throughout the building.

Those were the reasons she always told anyone who asked.

But really, there was just one. Just one thing that had captured her attention on her first tour with the realtor. Something she hadn’t quite been able to shake from her mind in the days and weeks after, as she walked almost unseeing through the other spaces and places the realtor had lined up for her to view.

It was the tub.

A big, porcelain egg-shaped thing, large enough for her to submerge her whole body under hot, scented bubbles whenever the world felt just a smidgen too much.

Separate from the bathroom, the minimalist feature set before a panel of floor to ceiling windows. Tinted, of course, for her privacy. The perfect place to sit, to soak, to just … be.

Kelley had walked into that room on her tour and a part of her had never quite left. Had remained while she wondered if it was worth the investment. Had remained every time she’d had to leave and travel somewhere else–another city, another state, another country. Her heart and mind and body here, her center, her calm, her collectedness at home, waiting upon her return.

But the best thing, she knew, was that it was always there to come home to.

To turn the taps just right and fill the large tub.

To the soothing froth of sandalwood and mandarin-scented bubbles, the reds and oranges of the bath-bomb dissolving into the heat of the water.

The soft sound of a guitar, a sweet, slow song glissading through the low lights of the room.

To the knowing–here and now and always–that she was home.

“Hey,” the gentle voice whispered, breaking through her thoughts, bringing her back from the comforting haze she’d let her mind wander off into, “don’t go falling asleep in here. We both know I’d drop you if I had to carry you to bed.”

And Kelley blinked, eyes refocusing from the expanse of the city beyond to the figure before her. Blonde hair loose and wavy over her shoulders, blue eyes laughing–always laughing–as they took her in, the easy smile.

Emily.

Her Emily.

Kelley picked up the foot that had been teasingly stroking over her thigh, and began to massage over the sole, the toes, earning a delighted groan from the woman sitting across from her in the tub.

“Come on, now,” she grazed a fingernail over the sensitive inner arch, “we both know you wouldn’t dare.”

And she laughed.

They both did.

At home.

Content.

In love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "invisible string," Taylor Swift


	3. Let Life Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Every time that you fail to answer_  
>  It's okay that you don't know

“Could you?” Emily asked her over the phone, and behind the words Kelley could hear the remnants of the sobs that had only just subsided in her girlfriend’s voice. “Could you do it again, long distance?”

And Kelley ached to hear the question. Because the truth was, she didn’t know. She didn’t know if she could do it, the empty space beside her in bed every night, the missed phone calls, the all too frequent goodbyes.

Because, Kelley bit her lip, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.

There had been a deal in place. Becky to Portland, Emily to Utah. Like for like.

But then Laura had moved to the national scene, and what had been a mutually beneficial trade, at least in the interests of the players, had fallen apart under her team’s new leadership. And Emily, they’d both been devastated to find out that morning, just a few hours before the news of the trade would be made public, was headed to Orlando instead of where she belonged–

In Utah.

In Kelley’s home and Kelley’s bed and on Kelley’s backline.

It was supposed to finally be easy, being in love. Finally supposed to stop asking–demanding–sacrifice after sacrifice. The kind that broke hearts. The kind that she’d had to make in every relationship she’d ever had since she’d first moved into the national team pool.

But Kelley, though it hurt, though she knew that it would ask more of her, maybe, than had ever been asked before, didn’t hesitate.

“Yes,” she assured her sweet, soft, perfect girl. “Without a single regret. For however long it might take to get ourselves on the same team, Emmy.”

Kelley said the words in the kind of tone she uses in the media scrum. Strong. Authoritative.

Sure.

And as she said them she realized–she could. She could do this. For Emily. For their relationship.

Because unlike all the failed ones before, she has something with this woman that she’d never had with anyone else.

A future.

One that she could see so clearly. A straight line. Rings and vows and mortgages.

Because what she has with Emily, what they have together, is the kind of love that made Kelley realize–

With the right kind of love?

Nothing is too hard, too far, too costly.

“We’ll figure it out, Emily,” Kelley whispered, already sketching out a plan in her head. “Orlando won’t be forever, but us? We’re going to last.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Let Life Love You," Sean C Kennedy


	4. On Fire, Dreaming of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Only been here for a moment, but I know I want you  
>  Darling, I do  
> I'm with you_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Prompt**   
>  _Emily and Kelley at Erin's engagement party_

It’s supposed to be for her sister, this party, but there’s a silly, lazy smile on Kelley’s face as she watches the way her girlfriend’s hips are swaying to the energetic music on in the background. She’s not thinking of Erin and Mark, not even close.

“So,” the word startles her out of her thoughts as Erin comes to stand at her side, “she sure is something.” There’s no confusion about who her sister means, gesturing with her glass of wine, and Kelley nods.   
  
“She is.”

—–

The plan had been for an outdoor engagement party, white tablecloths and gold chairs in the prettiest little garden Kelley had ever seen. But when they’d woke that morning, Emily’s mouth already hot over her skin, the skies had been grey and the clouds threatening. 

It had held off, giving everyone hope that the forecast’s fifty percent chance of storms would pass right on over without the sky breaking open and ruining the afternoon. But finally, just before noon, as they were getting ready to go over and help set up, lightning crackled across the sky, heavy rolling thunder on its heels. 

Erin was a mess at their parents’ house, hands in her hair and frantically checking the weather for an estimate on how long the storm would last. No one wanted to tell her what they all already knew–there would be no garden engagement party today. 

The house took on a kind of sickly silence after Mark whispered in his fiance’s ear, after he pulled her into a soft hug. Broken only by the sound of the rain beginning to fall, pounding against the kitchen’s windows, the sliding door of the patio. 

“What about a barn?” Emily spoke softly from her girlfriend’s side at the island, “if we had a place to move the party to, could we push it back a few hours? Let everyone know to come at, say, seven?”

They all turned to look at her, and for a moment the woman, the youngest in the room by a couple of years, faltered, blushing. But Kelley squeezed her hand and turned to her, and Emily felt the power of her encouraging smile.   
  
“My uncle has a barn–he rents it out all the time for events. I could call him, see if it’s free tonight?” 

—–

The rain was loud on the roof as they scrambled to make the barn ready, to turn the sophisticated garden party into something more fitting for the well-worn floors of the barn, the beams and rafters. 

Erin ceded the vision in her head to the chaos, and embraced it whole-heartedly. Her laughter filled the open space as she held the string of lights her husband-to-be was hanging, and the sparkle in her eyes was joy and not the tears of before. The bridesmaids busied themselves phoning the guests, informing them all of the change in venue, in time, in theme. “Don’t worry about a babysitter,” they’ve been told to pass on, “bring the kids, we’re going to have a great time.” 

Gone are the tiny tables and gold chairs with white skirts. Instead, the groomsmen carried in long tables and benches, and spread a few white tablecloths over them while Kelley filled mason jars with pebbles and emergency candles she’d found at the nearest Sav-a-lot, placing them on the tabletops for decoration. A friend with a DJ table was called and set up while Emily brought in load after load of six-packs from the van, stopping to watch with a wide grin as her uncle and Kelley’s dad wrestled with the kegs they’d picked up from a nearby brewery, and Kelley’s mother focused herself calling the caterers, asking them to bring the food here instead. 

Everyone pitched in to help, and within a few hours and more than their fair share of miracles, they’ve gotten it done, this last-minute emergency fix for Erin. 

And it looked amazing.

—–

The party is in full-swing, lights twinkling above like stars as the guests dance in the middle of the floor, as the children chase each other around, mouths smeared with cake, wound up with sugar and the kind of excitement that comes from being surrounded by adults having the time of their lives. 

And Kelley blushes as her sister stands at her side, watching her as she watches her girlfriend dance with their cousin. Starts again, as she feels Erin rest her head against her own, wrap her arms around her waist.   
  
“You’re in love,” her older sister whispers into her ear, and Kelley doesn’t have to turn to know the smile that’s there. The kind only an older sister can give, somehow sly and happy and all-knowing at once. 

Kelley watches as Emily is dipped on the dance floor, takes in the way the younger woman laughs as she’s pulled back up, can feel the laugh in her belly from all the way across the room. 

Deep, warm, full. 

She pulls her sister’s arms around her tighter, leaning back a little, drunk on that sound, the feeling it brews inside of her. 

“I am,” she whispers, and blows a kiss across the room. “I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I'm With You," Vance Joy


	5. Summer Night with a Blonde Bombshell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _You got me chasing the fall  
>  You got me chasing and risking it all  
> I'm chasing, I'm chasing your love  
> And I want it all_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Prompt**   
>  _anything with sonnett and kelley plz_

Eventually, you’ll have to slow down. 

But eventually is not now, and so you pour another drink for the both of you and bring it over to where she’s dancing with herself in the middle of a small clearing amid the revelers. And for a moment, you just watch her, the way those stone-wash jeans cling just right to her thighs, the cuffs and her tan skin visible just above her _Damn Daniels_ as she lifts a hand into the air and shuffles her feet in that cool, cool way she has. 

God, it strikes you then, but you love her. Her goofy smile, the way her eyes crinkle in the bright sunlight, how she mugs for the camera. 

The secret softness of her heart, the sides that no one gets to see but you. Soft blonde hair spread over your chest in the sacred morning afters you get to spend with her, always too few and too far between. The curve of her spine as she arches against the line of warm, wet kisses you leave down her back. 

There’s no way you could have done this again without her. Without her jokes and her soft nudges of support. Without her behind you, pushing you to be your very best. Chasing your legacy. 

And you know–when the time comes, you’ll be so proud to pass the torch. To see her reach even higher stars than you could ever have dreamed of. 

This, you realize, this is what love is. 

At last. 

You slip over to her side and press the beer into her hand. “Hey, baby,” you whisper, and smile as she turns into you, taking a grateful sip. 

“How’s your head?” she asks, and you laugh. 

She’s at your side and you’re feeling no pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Chasing the Fall," The Darcys


	6. Bragging Rights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Prompt**   
>  _So what do I get when my fantasy team beats yours this week?_

“So what do I get when I win our fantasy matchup this weekend?” Emily grinned as she came up to where Kelley was sitting on the Adirondack chair in the backyard, one half of the set her twin had given them as a housewarming gift earlier that year.

She hiked up the hem of her shorts, and straddled her girlfriend’s lap, not bothering with any pretense of pretending it wasn’t immediately obvious what was on her mind. And Kelley groaned, a deep, throaty noise that slipped out from her throat, fingers grasping Emily’s hips.

“Well, first of all, you’re not going to win, you’ve lost every single game so far,” the older woman leaned forward with a sexy smirk. “And second, isn’t winning reward enough in its own?”

Emily laughed, kissing down her neck. “Oh, I’m going to win. I’ve got a feeling. And when I do …” her hands slipped under Kelley’s shirt, “I’m gonna have so much fun claiming you as my prize.”

Kelley didn’t even bother protesting. Not then.

And not when Emily won either.

Why would she?

She won too.


	7. Come Here Often?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt**  
>  "come here often"

Emily watched as her target rubbed at her eyes, still tired after her overnight flight. She’d been in already when Kelley arrived, but hadn’t knocked at her hotel room door, well aware that the older woman would want nothing more than to shower and then collapse face first onto her bed. So Emily had waited, almost politely, until the first team dinner of camp. She’d commandeered a table a little out of sight of the door, half-hiding behind the stacks of camp gear waiting to be handed out after the meal, and craned her head to look every time she heard the heavy fire-proof doors open.

Finally, she saw her, sleep-rumpled and absolutely adorable in the green sweatshirt she and Allie and Alex had released just the day before. Kelley looked half-asleep still, blinking hard in reaction to the bright lights, shuffling a little slowly as she stepped inside, looking around for Emily. But Emily had chosen her spot well, and smiled as she saw her girlfriend give in and head to the buffet line, grabbing a plate and looking over the offerings there.

The blonde snuck around the side of the room, an eye on Kelley’s back, before slipping into line right behind her, ignoring the rolled eyes and bemused expressions of the Mewis sisters who she’d just cut in front of.

“Come here often?” Emily whispered, so close her lips could have pressed a kiss to her girlfriend’s neck if she’d wanted to. And Kelley’s reaction was priceless, the way she jumped a little in surprise, silverware rattling on the ceramic plate in testimony of how unexpected Emily’s appearance had been.

There was laughter down the line of players, but a gentle kind, familiar and friendly, and Emily gave the older woman a soft, sweet grin. The kind she knew her girlfriend couldn’t hold a grudge against for long.

“You’re an idiot,” Kelley said, but took her hand and pulled her in close for a kiss, before flipping off the team when they began to clap.

“Are they always like this?” Emily heard Kristie ask her sister behind them, and snorted at her friend’s response.

“Most of the time they’re even worse,” Sam whispered loudly, conspiratorially, and Emily mentally adjusted the order of the pranks she planned to pull during this camp, moving the sisters all the way up to the top before flipping them off herself.


	8. Always My Favorite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Prompt**   
>  _Jealousy with a happy ending_

Kelley looked over at Rose, twirling around with a laughing Charlie in her arms, and scowled. That was her best friend’s baby and she should be the one making the sweet-faced girl giggle so loudly.

Emily came over to her from across the room. “You okay?” she asked, nudging her girlfriend gently. And Kelley turned to her, still scowling.

“I’m fabulous,” she said, her voice sounding grumpy, “just peachy.” And Emily laughed, kissing her cheek.

“You are so not peachy,” realization dawned on the younger woman’s face. “You’re jealous.” And she laughed even louder, drawing unintentional attention from their friends and teammates in the room. Emily leaned in close, wrapping her arms around Kelley’s waist. “You’re jealous of Rose and the baby.”

Kelley blushed, realizing how stupid it sounded when said aloud. “I’m Alex’s best friend,” she rested her head against Emily’s shoulder, “I should be the favorite auntie.”

Emily rubbed a hand up and down her girlfriend’s side. “Anybody can make a baby laugh, you know,” she whispered against Kelley’s hair. “They have no sense of nuance. They’re suckers for physical comedy. They’re literally the lowest hanging fruit for a laugh,” she smiled as she felt Kelley relaxing in her arms.

“But you? You were the only one who could put her to sleep last night. You rocked her and rocked her and rocked her, and sang terrible lullabies for hours until she finally passed out,” Emily reminded her. “That’s the mark of a true favorite auntie, I swear.”

And Kelley turned, tilting up her head to kiss Emily softly. “Thanks, baby,” she whispered before turning back to watch again, letting her girlfriend hold her close.

“No problem,” Emily smiled, and rested her chin on Kelley’s shoulder. “And don’t worry, you’re always going to be my favorite.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I hate jealousy fics but this one worked out alright.)

**Author's Note:**

> Some fic was originally posted as individual pieces. Sorry for the reposts.


End file.
